


Combustion

by krispys_can



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Made Up Planets, Soft Kylux, but also Fighting Kylux, space adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 13:14:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16119209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krispys_can/pseuds/krispys_can
Summary: There was something about being flung into space on a tiny, metal death trap that made one fond of your bunkmate but also makes one hate them all the same.





	Combustion

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to express extreme and genuine gratitude to my partner [ @artqueefcafeteria ](https://artqueefcafeteria.tumblr.com/) and their [ lovely artwork ](https://artqueefcafeteria.tumblr.com/post/178578522278/my-art-for-krispyscreams-fic-combustion-for-the#notes)!

“Are you smoking?” A moment of silence and Kylo was met with a crackle in his ear.

“No, why? Stay focused,” a voice chided him on the other end.

Not quite a Master but an excelling apprentice, Kylo Ren rolled his eyes turning his attention back to the control panel. He snorted, not quite in contempt, but a unique, complicated, something he reserved for his nettlesome partner, Lieutenant Armitage Hux. There was something about being flung into space on a tiny, metal death trap that made one fond of your bunkmate.

Together their mission was simple: break-in, steal the plans, and leave with as many working bodies as possible or just the two of them. Entering had been easy on Kylo’s side, simply plowing through a hall of security and taking over the main control panel. His partner’s role, however, was a little trickier: the breaking and entering part.

Kylo stared up at the panel of screens finding Hux seated on a ledge. His blaster was slung over his shoulder, and he was, of course, taking another drag from his cigarette. He seemed cold with his collar popped, limbs drawn inward. Though the sleek flight suit was well-insulated, Hux had never been happy bracing the elements.

“Okay. Panel should open in a minute.” With a press of a button, a hatch just above Hux opened. He watched as the man flung the cigarette off the side of the building, stood, and disappeared through the vent.

“You know those things will kill you,” Kylo quickly added.

“Plenty of things can kill me.” Hux sighed, voice rattling against the confined metal walls. “For instance, we could have misjudged the size of this vent and I could die here.”

Kylo chuckled, flitting through images of security footage, “You’re moving through just fine. Target is coming up.”

Hux ignored him, continuing his rant, voice rising, “Who knows? One day the structural integrity of our pod might just collapse and jettison me out into space. What will kill me first? Asphyxia? Hypothermia? Implosion? All it takes is your blaster pointing the wrong way and there we go. A cigarette--”

Then there was a pop, a burning smell, a searing pain, and a ray of light from below. An urgent voice interrupted Hux’s rant, “There’s a group of five right below you! Get out of there.”

“Bastard,” Hux held his burned arm and rolled over to the hole. “Bad recon can kill me rather efficiently.” He felt like a womp rat in the ire of an exterminator. This rat however thought quickly and Hux threw a grenade in retaliation.

Another shout from below, then an explosion, and Hux sighed in relief.

There was a long moment of silence and Kylo waited for something on the other side. 

“Oh, and prolonged exposure to a plasma detonator can kill me too. I can die from a bunch of ulcers bent over a toilet.”

“Yeah I get your point,” Kylo sounding a little exasperated. He huffed letting out the breath he was holding but not for very long. There was a presence. No, two, coming up through the hall. “Heads up I got company over here. Just shut up and get to the target.” Kylo quickly ducked behind the panel barely dodging a blast.

“Oh? I thought you were in a chatty mood,” Hux answered.

Kylo rose, returning the fire, both shots making their mark, “I have other ideas for your mouth if you’re just itching to use it.”

He heard a scoff on the other end, “Always the charmer.”

“Yeah?” Kylo smirked. He hopped over the duo, leaving the way he came, only to slide in a different direction once he heard a shout down the hallway. The voices became distant as he rounded the corner. His escape ran smoothly just until he was met with something hard and surprisingly heavy.

“Are you alright?” said a familiar voice. Kylo wheezed with the weight of Hux suddenly on top of him. “Honestly, for an expert in covert missions you should really watch where you're going.”

Kylo pushed Hux off of him and groaned, “You got the plans?”

“All in one piece,” Hux stood flashing a small disk. He held out a hand, kindness in his smile and laughter in his voice. “Let's get out of here.”

 

With noise still ringing in his ears, and smoke and sweat still beaten into his clothes, Kylo tried to rest. Outside their small ship the stars streamed past them, the engine rumbled trying to put its best foot forward, and just feet away from him Hux had a light on tinkering. Always tinkering.

“Hux.”

“Hm,” he responded not even sparing a glance.

A hand came up to paw at his shoulder, “Come to bed.”

“I'm almost finished with this.”

“Blaster?” he asked, barely able to make full sentences sleep only a few blinks away.

“Just an idea I’ve been playing with,” Hux responded, a gentleness lacing his voice like a whisper.

“Something you’re going to test on the next mission? Hope it doesn’t blow up on you this time.” He rolled over to the other side trying to hide from the light.

“I’ll probably test it when I get back to the ship. There are more materials there.”

“Glad I don’t have to keep updating my saber. It’s reliable. Elegant. No risk of it backfiring.” The sleepy man yawned.

At that Hux rolled his eyes and settled behind him. He should smack him him with a pillow for that. Kylo would be completely defenseless but he decided against it. “Oh, please. The more I look at it, the more it makes me think you pasted it together with some string and chewing gum.”

“Maybe I did.”

“You are right. Something reliable is an elegant solution to a problem,” There was a distinct click and the sound of a holoscreen closing its projector, “What if...what if we could end a war with a single blaster shot?”

“Single shot, huh? Whoever you’re murdering has to be pretty important.”

“Or just large enough a population to pay the price.”

The light was suddenly low and Kylo peered over his shoulder to see Hux looming behind him, “What? Like the Deathstar?”

“I’m sure the Deathstar fired more than once.”

“Once that...mattered and then it was destroyed. Twice. Whatever you’re planning it doesn’t sound practical let alone getting that approved by anyone.”

“It’s possible, and we can make it better!” Kylo grimaced at Hux’s enthusiasm, one that Hux couldn’t see behind the covers. He looked up to Hux who was now sitting on the edge of his bed looking at him with those terribly bright, blue eyes. So he pulled the sheets down and put on his best face. A smile.

“Well, if anyone can try, you can. But does it have to be worked on right now? I’m tired, aren’t you tired?” Kylo took his hand brushing a finger against his, pleading for him to turn off the light completely. Just let the stars guide their way. There was nothing to worry about here. Autopilot was on. No enemy insight. The adrenaline settling to rest in his gut. No superior officers to bother them in their rest.

“A little.” Hux admitted.

Kylo pulled back the sheet, “Good. Come to bed.”

Here on this little ship there was little sleep to go around but they could dream about victories, successes, and a future that was so close. Sleep came quick and ended quickly. An alarm pinged announcing their arrival. The ship shifted. Kylo awoke to find he was not the first.

Hux was already awake, sleep still in his eyes as he switched off the alarms, murmuring to ground control their designation. It was only on this ship they could dream for something sweeter.

 

In front of the Supreme Leader, Hux always stood so stiffly. Hands clasped behind his back. Spine straight. Eyes to the ground with no challenge. So unlike himself Kylo thought.

Hux spoke so plainly, no admonishing tone or endearment to his voice like Kylo was so used to, “The plans were successfully captured. We’ve sent them to engineering to be analyzed.”

“The target was in transition like our intelligence suggested. Everything has been detailed in the mission report, Supreme Leader.” Kylo added with an equally bored tone.

“Excellent. Your contributions are appreciated and will surely bring great success to our new order.” Taking this as a signal to leave, Hux bowed and turned on his heel while Kylo braced himself to speak with his Master.

“Ah, Lieutenant just a moment,” From the corner of his eye, Kylo could see Hux tense. Fear emanating off of him in tiny tendrils. Suddenly, or rather, with the regal elegance of a king, the Supreme Leader waved Kylo away. Kylo looked towards his Master with many questions and saw a face that had no answers. He simply bowed and spared Hux a glance, his face still as serious as it always was.

“Yes, Supreme Leader?” Hux asked

“I hear you have quite the eye.”

“Top of my class, sir.” Hux looked up to the man, his back straight, eyes proud, and for once raised his head to meet the eyes of the Supreme Leader. At least he thought he did. He was sure he saw him seated on the throne in a blasé fashion in one moment. He never saw him move only appearing directly in front him in the next. Hux did not remember him moving, only remembered why people feared him. He towered over him, his robe hanging off him like moss on a crooked tree.

“Your father must be proud,” Hux tensed, confused and surely making a rude face now at the mention of his father. The Supreme Leader began pacing, “Ah so it’s not like that then.”

He circled him like a monster with no clear intention. Snoke was unseemly, maybe not to the eye, but sneaky like a sarlacc. Snoke continued. “I like you Armitage. I’m sure you know that by now. Ever since I’ve inhabited this position you’ve always found a way to exceed my expectations.

“We can’t stay in these regions forever and I’m sure you know that some forces are starting to encroach on us,” He stepped away and Hux let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His attention was turned to a holo, a swirling vortex with three rings. This was their system with the unknowns not even etched into the map.

“We need resources,” Snoke’s hand rose and a series of stars lit up. If you looked further out past the transparisteel windows into space, you could see the core worlds from Snoke’s throne room. They tiny specks just between the light blue trails of hyperspace lanes and the culmination of nebulas that stood between them. 

“We need to take the offensive, which is why your next mission will be important to the fate of our cause. We need to send these people a message.” Hux blinked, recalling the details of their next mission. Their next task involved negotiations with the death gangs. What kind of message would they want to send there?

“You understand right?” Hux nodded unsure of what this meant.

“Of course, Supreme Leader.” There was a tense pause before the Supreme Leader began to withdraw and make his way back to his throne.

“Good. Surely you’d one day like the title of Major?” Hux envisioned those stripes on his sleeves, his heart alighting with hopes and suddenly those dreams seemed much bigger than the tiny ship he and Kylo inhabited.

Snoke smiled, “Now I’ll let you go and prepare.”

As Hux stepped into the hallway he found Kylo lingering. Kylo approached immediately and started searching, studying Hux’s face for something. Was he harmed? Physically? Psychologically? Spiritually?

“What did he want?” Kylo asked.

“Oh nothing.” Hux waved him off, his smile telling him otherwise.

 

Kylo felt like Hux was always hiding something, even as he slept. His heart perhaps. Perhaps it sustained too many bruises by the brute of the military, the withering life of a crude social experiment. Even when Hux was laid bare Kylo was still peeling away layer after layer until he reached his skin, his heart, his core.

Kylo turned back to the controls, letting the man sleep just a little longer. Thought he did not have much time when the air inside the ship shifted as it dropped out of hyperspace. Hux startled awoke to the cacophony of alarms.

“We’ve arrived,” Kylo announced, switching each one off. Before them was neither a planet nor was it anything but the edge of something ruinous.

“An asteroid belt?” Hux asked.

“No we’re here.”

“You’d think after all these years they’d clear the debris.”

This place was called Elise, or Esile, depending on who you asked. Or at least that’s what they called what was left of the two moons. Hux took it all in, a now an unusually still field of moonrock. Legend has it that the two moons, prosperous in their own way, were too tightly wound around a dead star. They say they collided into each other, but this far out in the rim with limited resources, it’s more plausible they destroyed each other over what they did not have. What was left was a pile of rocks.

It was disgraceful, and only the disgraceful inhabited these parts. Hiding among the scattered remains of the twin moons was their goal. A bad deal. A double-crosser. An enemy of the First Order.

 

“Usually tracking down a base would be easier” Kylo commented.

The landscape was not ideal. The air was thin, so thin that the pair required a store of oxygen. Together they seemed like two stormtroopers but with faces through a thin layer of transparisteel. It was no wonder that the locals felt uneasy about their presence.

Shadows crept behind rocks like a festering colony of insects. They watched the two walk through, intrigued by these strangely shaped newcomers. Humans were few and far in these parts.

Long before the Republic and the Empire, they say there was a star in these regions. Something that all these planets could orbit around, thrive around, live around. Except they also say that one day the star disappeared and like these two twin moons, they had no one else except each other. And they destroyed each other. Nothing was left in these parts except the dregs of society, shadows, and what was left of the Empire. The First Order.

“Well they hide their own here,” Hux concluded.

A figure with bright yellow eyes peered over them as they passed. A hooded wraith slowly turning its head with them as they walked past. It stood at the entrance of two high plateaus like a warning. Law was not welcome in these parts, let alone order and a righteous self-assurance.

In these parts the ground seemed more unstable. It was soft and kicked up at any disturbance with no sign of ever rejoining its earth. The plateaus seemed to be crumbling, and perhaps in several more decades this region would be nothing but dust.

The shadows seemed to linger more out of curiosity than a threat. They scampered away once caught, hiding behind the field of rocks gathered up next to the hills. Eyes seemed to hover in hollowed out pieces like a hoard of lothcats. They questioned whether these two newcomers were food, threat, or just passing through.

As they pressed on to the end of the canyon, the air here seemed oddly still, and the eyes disappeared, likely minding their own business. Kylo was the first to stop, signaling they had arrived at their destination.

“You know it wouldn’t be polite to cause trouble.” Kylo quipped aloud. But Hux couldn’t appreciate it. He heard a distant click, a scrape in the crumbly soil, and prepared himself.

A plasma bolt whizzed by them and Hux responded in the old-fashioned way he usually responds; with a good blade and a swing towards the source. There was a gasp and a body falling limply to the floor with a hard thunk. Further out before them steps began running not towards them but away from them.

“Let them go,” Hux ordered, “It’ll be fun seeing them talk their way out of this one. Besides we won’t have to check every single damn cave.”

Kylo inspected the dead man rolling him over, “Looks like he had a little bit of work done.”

He was met with a featureless mask. The victim’s body seemed more droid than man. Its chest jutted out in odd shapes connected by tubes that seemed to dig into the skin and pop up at other parts of his body.

Hux looked over Kylo’s shoulder while loading his blaster, “A heart booster. Poor guy probably only knows how to be angry and kill.”

The knight bent down snatching an extra plasma pack from him, “That’s a death gang for you. Good you finished him off quickly. We’ll have to be more careful of surprises if they’re all mechanical limbs and modifications.” 

Kylo charged up his blaster and looked to Hux who had said nothing. It worried him.

Simply put, the Guavian death gang did nothing but talk. The promise of ships, the promise of a ticket to the core worlds, the promise of sneaking through the barriers, the treaties and embargos. All for nothing. The Supreme Leader was none too pleased by their performance as was Hux.

Hux was once promised glory, a place in the universe, a home, and land, and freedom to consume through a Force they did not understand but feared. Order Hux called it. Truly they would be home once again.

Perhaps he was at least hopeful for a new ship. One that did not fail once you got to hyperspace. One that did not rattle intermittently or blow a fuse on every trip. One that had working lights. Preferably that mimicked the day time and had running water and a full mess hall. Where they grew their own vegetation and where he could feel the earth. The rain on his face. Snow on his skin. Sand in his hair. Something that wasn’t like this of course. Something like home. Like a planet.

Not something with recycled air and hard spaces and sterile surfaces. Perhaps the spared ruffian could lead them at least closer to that goal.

Hux snapped from his reverie when Kylo bent down and inspected the metal plate covering the scoundrel’s eyes. It looked like a shield, no, not a shield. It was a visor once that seemed to wrap around the assailant’s head and into his skull. With a hard tug the thing come off and revealed a gore of flashing lights and wires. It seemed he was more machine than man.

“Do you think you can put all that tinkering you do to work?”

Hux looked incredulous, “What did you want me to do? Bring him back and interrogate him? He’s good as gone.”

Kylo scoffed and shook his head, “No, no I mean if there are other members with this, do you think you could track their location?”

And suddenly Hux smiled.

 

Usually hacking into a death gang server would be difficult however once Hux fetched a pair of tools and his datapad, they were on their way to their target. Their headquarters was a cavern not far from where they found the two ruffians. No doubt they were expecting them and as Hux and Kylo closed in on their location, they treaded carefully on the brittle surface of the moon rock.

They were waiting for them, in fact. A small crew at the entrance of the outpost that Hux could guess was a smaller faction. It seems that they were attempting a more diplomatic approach armed engaged vibroblades than blasters. Weapons meant to maim not to kill. It would be their mistake. 

A brown haired man with large eyebrows who stood at the helm of the group, began to taunt them. An even poorer mistake. “You’re First Order creeps aren’t you. What are two pieces of space junk doing all the way out here?” 

Neither Hux nor Kylo desired or could respond before the ruffian began charging towards him with a vengeful gaze. Kylo reached for his saber prepared to take them all on himself. Usually the two had always been on the same wavelength, agreeing upon what was best. Kylo turned and Hux was gone.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Kylo shouted attempting to go after him but the other members of the crew quickly caught up to Kylo.

Hux was fast but he wasn’t landing any meaningful blows. The leader smiled like he was toying with Hux, letting him tire himself out. His movements were getting faster as the fight went on, the assailant's vibroblade snatching cuts on Hux’s cheeks and clothes. 

“Oh that’s right.” The brown-haired laughed almost maniacal. “The treaty. Now you’re all out here taking up space.”

The leader lunged for Hux yet Hux was not going to go down without a fight and he wasn’t necessarily going to play very nicely. At the final second, Hux ducked and dodged a lethal swipe of his vibroblade. Once eye level with his legs, Hux knocked him from under his feet and took the chance to capture his startled prey. Quickly he pinned him down digging his blade as far as it would go into the mechanical maw. Hux must have hit something important for the man to sputter and jolt, mechanical limbs seizing.

Kylo on the other hand, smashed through mechanical arms and weapons. He sliced through his victims without a care quickly turning his attention to Hux.

As the ruffian’s arm sparked and sputtered he began to panic,“I heard your guard dogs were meeting up.” Hux searched the man. He found his blaster and it charged up with a whine. The man on the ground let out an uneasy an uneasy laugh mildly afraid of what was going to happen to him, “W-w-w-wait. You’ll want to hear this. The unidentified pilots behind those X-wings in Hydian. They’re meeting up.”

The buzzing blaster died down, and man seemed rather pleased when Hux looked him in the eye, “Where’d you get this information?”

“I’ll l-let you know where but for a price.”

“What do you want?” Hux raised the blaster again and the man flinched.

“J-j-just let us go and we’ll be on our merry way.” Hux tossed the blaster aside. “I thought so.”

“We ran into a smuggler some months ago. Really famous guy. You’d read about him in the holonews. About him being a general for the Rebel Alliance. H-he wanted some hyperfuel duped us for 15,000 credits before speeding off. W-we had a bug though. Didn’t get much off of it but talked about Hosnian. Some folks calling themselves the Resistance.”

Hux looked to Kylo who wore a dark expression that Hux could only assume was a mutual understanding “I-i-it’s disguised as just political drab but they’ll be there. All those hot-shots from the war. They’re in on it. They’re all funding these terrorists in the trade routes. Old habits die hard I guess.”

What Hux did not know is that it was disagreement. Kylo was fuming.

Hux stood, brushing himself off and gave the ruffian a professional smile, “Interesting.”

“What H—” Kylo started.

But before he could complete his sentence Hux declared, “Well it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

 

  
“You should have just finished him off.” Kylo spat. He trudged into the ship banging on the controls a little too heavily for what the delicate thing could sustain.

“He had a better lead.” Hux insisted.

“Our orders from the Supreme Leader were clear. Finish him off.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand?!” Kylo stood. He did not understand this Hux. Had his master ordered Hux to test him? To challenge him? And had Hux agreed?

“This is big! This can send them a message. This can be our opportunity to finally reach out of the shadows and deal some real damage.” Hux snapped except Kylo seemed about ready to scream.

Before them it had been all laughs between them, mischief, and a strange something more. Kylo always thought that Hux was hiding something. He did not know it was ambition, a blazing inferno of rage that would raze everything in front of him. Hands wrapped around his head and Kylo focused on those calm, blue eyes as soothing as a rocking ship.

“Kylo look at me,” Hux said sweetly, “Do you think I intend to spend the rest of my living life on a spaceship? Look at this place no one can feasibly live here. It’s cold. It’s arid. Frankly, nothing should live here. The fight can be over before it even begins.”

Kylo stepped away. This wasn’t his problem. It wasn’t his priority. The unknown regions were why he came here in the first place. Unknown he was and always wanted to be. Kylo did not come here to go home- no to go back to the Core Worlds.

He wondered if he trusted Hux’s ambition. Or rather himself with Hux’s dreams that were too large and unruly that he would hate to see the man fail. Something told him to consider his own priorities but--

“It’s dangerous.” Kylo determined.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.” Hux replied and that was all Kylo needed.

He smiled, “Tell that to yourself.”

 

No one seemed to notice them slip by in the crowded vine of hyperspace trails that led to the Hosnian system. They wore no insignias, and either Kylo’s strange Republic drawl or a hand wave got them through just fine.

When they landed on Hosnian Prime however there was something off. Kylo could sense it. There was an oddly warm presence here, inviting, welcoming, aged, and wise. The air seemed to flow differently here whispering promises of a better life if he stayed. In the bustling shipyard Kylo felt an odd peace that was both encompassing and alarming. He felt out of his element and tensely lurked behind Hux.

Hux on the other hand paid no heed to Kylo finding him familiar. Everything was suspicious. Every ship. Every grandly dressed humanoid in deep purples and glittering jewelry hanging from their limbs. Every child that seemed to run so freely. The glittering hotel where the meeting was said to be taking place. And all the buildings surrounding it. The terraces adorned with freely hanging fruits and paristeel-wrought walls and colors Hux never knew could be painted. The sanitized alleyways behind the building. The maid rushing in a vase of strangely shaped flowers that still had dew sticking to its stems. Simply put, Hux hated it all.

The planet however seemed unalarmed by their presence lost in a flourishing security. No one would think that First Order would be all the way out here. The treaty would keep them safe and Hux hoped to prove them wrong.

The Hosnian sun was high and they were late. Time was not on their side. They quickly entered through the side of the building. Kylo kindly suggested to the maid that they were here to deliver the rest of the flowers, and in a hurry she was susceptible and the illusion took.

The ride up the elevator was quiet having said all that was needed. Hux quietly sat down on the plush flooring and began pulling various pieces from his flight suit, assembling his blaster. The uneasiness in Kylo’s stomach grew and hesitation lingered into his limbs. His saber hung loosely on his belt and oddly enough he hoped he would not have to use it.

His flightsuit felt hot. The odd warmth closing in on him. Something familiar. A sensation that he noticed as a presence. Kylo closed his eyes willing it away and prayed for his Master to guide him, no doubt he had already received their transmission.

The elevator dinged and signaled their approach. Hux nodded to him and hid behind the side of the elevator, Kylo followed pulling out his blaster. Briefly he wondered if that presence noticed him too.

When the door the first thing Kylo noticed was a chair facing away from them. Carefully balanced on top of the chair was a mound of brown hair just starting to gray and a round, glittering headpiece. Surrounding the figure was an entourage of humanoids watching her, celebrating with her, hanging on to every word she spoke.  
Ah, so she had changed her hair Kylo thought.

He felt like someone else. Not an apprentice that isn’t quite a master. A force user. A scoundrel. The Supreme Leader’s hound. Someone he had forgotten in all those years and missions. Someone small.

He lowered his blaster except of course Hux did not. Kylo felt that rage again, blazing forth like the power of a star. Than admire it, he feared that power.  
Hux’s hand was already on the trigger, his stance was already taken, the plasma bolt was already out of the barrel. And very briefly Kylo vowed he would move a hundred stars for a different situation.

Hux never missed a shot and depending who you asked he never did. He stood there frozen with an ugly expression on his face. Plasma bolt halfway to its target struggling to push forth. At first Hux did not know what was happening. Was there a force user among them? Then Hux slowly turned eyes to an equally ugly expression, tears running down a face he hoped that would never have them.

“I’m sorry,” Kylo said and then everything went dark.

 

\--  
Sometime later Kylo stood outside the door of the the Supreme Leader’s great hall still feeling small. Like a child awaiting punishment. His head hung low when Hux stepped out of the room. The Supreme Leader likely told him everything. His origin, his family, what the Republic meant to him, and Hux probably stood there not caring. There was nothing between anymore except silence.

Kylo sensed his rage simmering for now without even using the Force. He did not need to look up and see his eyebrows knitted together in an grotesque scowl.

There was a hard smack, flesh meeting flesh, the back of Hux’s hand meeting Kylo’s jaw. “Bastard,” Hux declared, his voice filling with vitriol. A sadness to his voice that Kylo could not sympathize with as he nursed his sore cheek.

Then Hux turned on his heel, “Don’t let your personal interests interfere ever again.”  
To Hux, it was unfortunate he had to repeat those words over and over again. Looking back, it was a foolish idea to infiltrate Hosnian even on his part. But it didn’t matter now. Not after all these years. Not when pain ran up his side and deep purples were littered on his body.

It was a mistake in the first place to put them together. They worked too well and when they disagreed with each other, chafed, and sparked. They simmered together until something as trivial as a breath or a shift they would alight.

He began rummaging through the drawers until he found what he needed then sat himself in front of those great transparisteel windows. The lights dimmed, indicating the start of the sleep cycle. From this far out in the galaxy Hux could still see those five glittering planets of the Hosnian system. The light had not yet dimmed this far out in the galaxy.

Hux needed a drink. Better yet a cigarette. With his less injured side he placed the cigarette between his teeth and lit it. He may quashed and battered but he surely wouldn’t let a cigarette kill him. He exhaled. Calm and persistent once again.


End file.
